"Bristol-Hillman",
the performing arts school which
Hilary Duff attends, doesn't really
exist.
The Chateauesque building that was used in the film for the school campus
is really theMary Andrews Clark Memorial Home, located
just west of downtown Los Angeles,
at 306 S. Loma Drive
(at the corner of 3rd Street & Loma).

Designated a Los Angeles Cultural
Monument (#158), it was built in 1913 as a YWCA
courtyard apartment complex for young women working downtown. It
was recently
restored, and now serves as a 151-room hotel for very low-income residents.
*

The old building has been a
popular spot for Hollywood location scouts. It has also been
seen in "The Ring 2", "The Wedding Planner", "I Still
Know What You Did Last Summer",
"Clockstoppers", American Pie 2", "Down to You",
"100 Girls", and TV's "Charmed", "ER",
"Party of Five", "Providence", "The Pretender",
a Macy Gray video & dozens of commercials.

When Hilary arrives in Los Angeles for
the first time, she arrives at Union Station,
L.A.'s classic old
train station. The station is seen several more times in the movie, including
the time Hillary hurries
to her sister's house (when she learns that her father is coming), and
the time 'Denise' (Dana Davis)
plays her amplified violin in the public space (see the photo below).

Union Station is located at 800
N. Alameda Street, in downtown Los
Angeles,
across the street from (east of) historic Olvera Street.

Built in 1939, the classic
train station has been seen in a number of other films
including one 1950 movie titled "Union Station", and more
recent films such as
"The Island", "Charlie's Angels 2", "Pearl Harbor"
& "The Italian Job".

The scene where Hilary stumbles across
a church and goes inside to pray,
was filmed at a real church: the United Methodist
Church, at 4350 Wilshire Blvd.,
near the Hancock Park area of Los Angeles.
(In reality, the church is about 33 miles
west of the school/dorm location, so it's unlikely that she would accidentally
stumble across it.)

The scene where Hilary and
Oliver James listen to street performers
play in the park (and exchange
personal stories), was filmed in an actual downtown park: Pershing
Square, which is bounded
by 5th, 6th,
Hill & Olive Streets.
(Unfortunately, in real life, the park has a major problem
dealing with the local homeless population.) *

(The brown building you see
right behind the huge ball is the Biltmore Hotel.)